February Themes

In just three days, Week Five of the MAD Book Challenge will begin--which means it's time to release the next batch of themes. Here they are:

Week 4: (Feb. 2-Feb. 8): Winner of a Printz Award
. No trying to sneak around this one. There better be a Printz sticker on that book!

Week 5: (Feb. 9-Feb. 15): Romance Novel
. In honor of Valentine's Day, which takes place during this week. As far as this theme goes, I mean that the book should have a sticker saying "romance" on the side. However, if you really, really don't think you can stomach it, I'll let you read any book that has the word "romance" in the description on the back cover, no matter what the genre.

Week 6: (Feb. 16-Feb. 22): Old Favorite
. Remember that you're only allowed 26 re-reads during the Challenge.

Week 7: (Feb. 23-Mar. 1): Classical Fantasy Book
. There are many different types of fantasy novels, and scattered throughout the Challenge I'll post themes of the different kinds. This week it's the classical variety--that means in the style of JRR Tolkien. I want to see elves and dragons galore. And before you ask: no, Harry Potter does not count (although HP readers should keep their eyes open for a very special theme sometime in the future!) Break out your LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia.



We're almost done with the first month of the Challenge! If you've been with us since the beginning: Only 11 months and 48 books to go! If you're a newcomer: Welcome, and good luck! Either way, I hope you're staying on schedule. If not, don't get stressed: there's still time, and you can't be that far behind. Now get back to reading!

Acccckkkkkkkk

It's Wednesday.
Which is my day to vlog.
I don't think there could be a worse Wednesday for me to start vlogging.

First, I got home around 3:50, feeling ridiculously sick. However, I sucked it up and recorded. Then, RIGHT when I was almost done recording, my camera fell. And turned off. And did not save my recording. So I had to do it over again. Right as I began editing, the power went out. Cue the incredibly windy storm! It stayed off for about 15 or 20 minutes, then came back on, and then continued to turn off and off for about 2 hours.

My editing system is incredibly stupid and only allows you to pick the start and stopping points of the video, meaning it takes me forever to cut stuff out. I also have two tests on Friday, meaning I need to start studying tonight.

So, I apologize, but my video will be out tomorrow. Not tonight.

On the plus side, you'll get a double-dose of MADers tomorrow!

-Deborah

Warning

Today is my day for the vlog (link in sidebar). I recorded the video on Saturday and it's all ready to go, but I'm having difficulty getting it onto YouTube for some reason - it's been uploading now for over forty five minutes and I've restarted it several times. This is just a warning that my video might not be up today; if so, know that I tried!

Awesome

Our YouTube account has officially been updated with our first ever video! Just click on the link in the sidebar, or here to go to our channel.

Remember that our daily vlogs will begin on January 5th.

We're BACK

Today Sarita, Deborah and I recorded Episode Nine (we've decided to consider the Twilight movie episode as a full episode). The show was about the musical 1776.

Unfortunately, Marshall wasn't with us due to technical difficulties, and Sarah had a scheduling conflict. Deborah, Sarita and I were all exhausted from partying on New Year's Eve (I got three hours of sleep. Ugh), so if we're repetitive on this one, just know our brains were NOT functioning normally. That being said, I think it went pretty well; we tried to be as energetic as we could, and there's an extended outro involving a lot of off-topic discussion (oops).

Look for Episode Nine on iTunes (and our official website, link in the sidebar) soon!